The River Valley Regional Intermodal Facilities Authority met with Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department officials Thursday to discuss the process and progress of the proposed Intermodal facility.

"We're waiting on the completion of the EIS (Environmental Impact Statement)," said Sid Brain, chairman. "We can't buy any land until the EIS is done. We're waiting, but we are continuing to plan."

The proposed Intermodal facility is a multi-mode transportation hub that would include a slackwater harbor. The project would include large tracts of land off of State Highway 247.

Cliff McKinney and Steve Morgan, both AHTD officials, advised authority members on obtaining consultants for the acquisition of land and for getting grants. They also discussed some of the requirements for the next steps for building the Intermodal project when the EIS is finished.

The final draft of the EIS is expected to be completed sometime in August, Brain said. Parsons, the company performing the study, was working to respond to public comments, he said.

"All those (public) comments will be incorporated into the final draft," Brain said. "There will be some changes on the draft based on the comments."

Luke Eggering, the principal environmental scientist with Parsons, had expected to present a recommendation on an alternative plan, but studies were still incomplete, he said during a telephone interview last week.

"Parsons had hoped to come down and work with us in choosing an alternative, but the federal highways (department) has a strict process," Brain said, noting the highway department had to be involved.

Although the EIS has cost the authority about $470,000 to date, money is still available for operation costs, consultants and surveys, Brain said. Currently, the EIS accounts for about 80 percent of the authority's billings, he said.

Another round of grants may be available once the authority receives a Finding of No Environmental Impact, or an environmental clearance, Morgan said. The majority of the grants would be matching grants similar to what the authority has now. However, he could not guarantee the amount of the grants would remain the same.

Grant money can go toward hiring a consultant to design roads for the facility, Morgan said. The hiring process could take up to six months.

McKinney advised the authority to look into low-interest loans from the Federal Rail Administration for upgrading and running new railroads.

Morgan also said the authority should hire a land acquisition consultant, because the method of acquiring property used for the facility was extremely strict.

"After the environmental clearance, then hire a consultant to design so you can determine what property is needed," Morgan said, adding that after the designing phase of the project is about 60 to 70 percent complete, then the authority could begin the easement and right of way process.

Currently, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is in the designing process and expects to be ready for signing a contract agreement between November and January.

"At that point, we need to sign up with them and be ready to go," Brain said.